City of Glasgow College has entered the prestigious top 10 medal rankings after four of the skills students scooped two silver and two bronze awards at the Worldskills UK competition in Birmingham.

A total of eight City of Glasgow College students participated in the intensive three-day Skills Show event at The NEC in Birmingham, which was attended by over 80,000 spectators including college Principal Paul Little, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Clyde, the mascot for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. This UK final, which is part of the global Worldskills movement, is the largest skills and careers event in the UK and aims to provide opportunities for young people to discover what they are good at and what they enjoy doing by inspiring demonstrations of elite skills competitors alongside interactive activities and have-a-go experiences.

“I’m delighted with our students who competed so impressively at The Skills Show and by the superb mentoring they received from our skills support team,” says City of Glasgow College Principal Paul Little. “This national competition is extremely well-run and fiercely competitive, and their achievement is an inspiration to those students and staff back at the College that City of Glasgow College can indeed compete and win at such a high level. The experience gained by these students in participating in such a renowned competition will help them stand out in the competitive job market reminding employers of how devoted they are to developing their chosen expertise.”

“I was also very pleased that so many other students were benefiting from the success of the Worldskills programme and succeeded at The Skills Show. Watching them compete alongside each other, as thousands of visitors examined their every move, I saw for myself the close bond and a determination all the competitors share to succeed at the highest level,” adds Principal Little, who recently took on the role of Lead Worldskills Champion for Scotland.

The City of Glasgow College students were among over 700 competitors from over 250 colleges from across the UK (including 60 Scottish finalists) who competed in the national competition. Their success resulted in City of Glasgow College being ranked seventh in the overall UK medal table, a highly impressive achievement.